Nothing Really Interesting Happens After 2 AM Anyway

[No, really, the party has to stop. OK, not right now lol.]

I once read this book that was talking about socialites and how some people manage to have it all. They work hard and productive and go out to all the parties and have fun.

This was their secret – a power socialite would show up for an event but would soon go to another party and after a few such stops head home early. This was what differentiated pros and wannabes. The amateurs would stay up all night and party. The next day however they would be completely burnt out from exhaustion.

Don’t Disturb Your Natural Ultradian Rhythm

Staying up all night once in a blue moon is fine. Hell, if it’s a quality night it’s more than worth it – that’s called living life fully. Now, doing the all-nighters regularly is a different game. This screws up your biological rhythms, called ultradian rhythms, big time.

[These ladies have got the rhythm part right.]

These are the daily ups and downs of your energy levels. Every 1.5-2 hours there is a natural dip in your ability to work and concentrate. That’s why schools have classes by the way. So anyway, when you mess up your sleep, the next day the ultradian rhythms are all out of alignment. So you won’t be able to start on your stuff when you want to start, etc.

You see, you are not some sort of robot that can be switched on and off at the press of a button. Everything in the body is adjusted to a certain biological schedule – eating, sleeping, energy levels, best times to train and so forth.

So, frequent all nighters disturbs this rhythm. Everything gets shifted around and readjusted.

You Should Be Well Rested for Optimal Performance

This one is obvious. Reaching your goals is a matter of daily progress. Small incremental advancements take you closer and closer to your desired result.

[Recovery is very important for your progress.]

And, if you wake up in a productive state and in top mental and physical shape, you will make a killing on your daily progress. In fact, I try to do most of the important stuff for the day as early as possible, because my energy levels are highest in the morning. If you are a mess when you get up, it will be another day that didn’t get you a step closer to where you want to get.

You Don’t Wanna Mess with Growth Hormone Secretion During REM Cycles

While you sleep there is a natural human growth hormone (HGH) spike every couple of hours. It happens during the so-called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase. It’s a phase of complete relaxation during which your motor functions are turned off so that you don’t fall off your bed with a sudden twitch while you are dreaming.

Anyway, if you cut your sleep short by say 2-4 hours, you may completely miss one or more of these cycles because the body goes through a certain routine before entering each REM phase. You can’t just fall to sleep and go into REM mode.

[Now that's not the type of REM I'm talking about here. Anyway, one of my all time favorite videos.]

Here is the scary part -you may sleep only 10-20% less and miss out on a whopping 33% of recovery. This happens because if there are 3 REM cycles for example and you mess things up and miss one, you lose a significant one third of the HGH benefits. There simply is not enough time for the full REM routine to take place. So sleepless nights equal less recovery.

Images: Slow Brook SD Dirk jorgemejia

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[My favorite sport. I have torn ligaments in both my ankles playing ball but I still love the game.]

The ankle is made for mobility so restricting that with a high top shoe is going to bring trouble somewhere else. It’s better to injure the ankle than to tear something in your knee. So, the solution is not taping and bracing the ankle, but strengthening the foot’s tissues – muscles, tendons, ligaments in order to prevent spraining.

This Video Shows A Few Different Ways To Strengthen The Tissues Of The Foot


[Dick Hartzell explains how to use elastic bands to strengthen the ankle in the exact pathway injuries occur so it can resist next time.]

The clip gives a long and detailed explanation. Building ankle strength and flexibility, however, is like all great things actually quite simple.

There Are Two Positions For You To Put The Band On

If you put it on the arch of the foot, you then can flex your foot side to side and mimic the exact movement that sprains your ankle. Now, by strengthening this pathway by working the muscle on the side of your calf, you are going to enable the ankle to control this range of motion. All the tissues in this area will toughen up and spraining incidents will decrease.

The second position for the band is the ball of the foot. This allows an up and down motion to fortify the calf muscle and the Achilles tendon – the one on the back of your foot just above your heel.

Knee Positions and Muscle Activation

When the knee is bent, the work is done by the soleus muscle. This is the one just above the ankle and below the diamond- or ball-like muscle of the actual calf.

On the other hand, when the leg and knee are straight, the working muscle is the grastrochemius muscle. This is what people refer to as the calf.

At any rate it’s a good idea to strengthen you feet and avoid or decrease injuries in the future.

[This is another video basically explaining the same thing.]

Image: theogeo

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Training hard for 3 to 4 weeks and then resting or backing off on the volume has been around forever. Legendary bodybuilding trainer Vince Gironda supported it. As did the Eastern Bloc trainers. It simply allows you to attack your goals fresh.

[She works hard, trains hard and plays hard. Now she needs her beauty sleep lol.]

2. Resting will release the accumulated fatigue throughout your whole body

Hard training is a cumulative stress on your whole body. Not only the muscles, but also the joints, ligaments, bones and probably most importantly organs and glands get fatigued. Once they are rested your progress will be better.

3. You will relax mentally as well as physically

Having to train on a set schedule and not miss workouts drains your will. Sometimes you need to reset your brain too and give yourself the well deserved recovery time. In this way your focus will be stronger once you restart training.

4. This is a good way to alternate between different goals

Your first goal should always be to lean out so that you look good naked. Once you achieve that, you can use the break to switch to a different goal. For example beginner strength training or increasing your vertical for your pickup basketball games.

5. Begin easy and crank it up gradually

One of the best ways to train is to start off with easy workouts and gradually increase the difficulty until it gets very hard to progress. At this point you can rest or train really light and then begin the cycle again.

6. Switch up training methods

You can use the break or light training week to introduce a different training method while still pursuing the same goal. In other words, if your goal is to lean out, you can diet hard or fast and at the same time alternate between fat loss and strength training workouts every 3 to 4 weeks. The reason this works well is because fat loss workouts are mentally more challenging so it’s a good idea to give yourself a break from them while still watching your food and continuing to stimulate your muscles.

Image Vincent Boiteau

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